| | | |A Robert Zemeckis Film.
Features: DVD, Widescreen, Dolby, Dolby Digital (5.1)
Beowulf is "An astonishing experience! This is a film people will be talking about for years" (Jeffrey Lyons, NBC's Reel Talk). Academy Award winners Anthony Hopkins and Angelina Jolie give larger-than-life performances in this epic adventure from Oscar-winning director Robert Zemeckis.In a mystical time of monsters, demons and dragons, one man heroically rises above all others. His name is Beowulf. Starring Ray Winstone, Robin Wright Penn and John Malkovich.
"...a solemnly gorgeous, at times borderline stolid piece of Tolkien-with-a-joystick mythology." Owen Gleiberman, Entertainment Weekly
"Zemeckis springs so many pow 3-D surprises you'll think Beowulf is your own private fun house." Peter Travers, Rolling Stone
"...power and depth...a thrilling dragon fight...and a naked monster who looks a lot like Angelina Jolie." Richard Corliss, Time
"The monsters of "Beowulf" have haunted human imagination for more than a millennium; the ones in this film will easily provoke a few nightmares." Shawn Levy, Portland Oregonian
"...an astonishing experience that borders on 'must-see'..." Tom Ambrose, Empire
"...a lot more fun than the mythic adventure most of us read in school." Claudia Puig, USA Today
"As dazzling a feast for the eyes as the hungriest eyes can take." Jack Mathews, New York Daily News
"Exhilarating storytelling. Cutting-edge moviemaking." Leonard Maltin, ET
Editor's Note
Director Robert Zemeckis mines the epic Old English poem for his latest action adventure to feature performance capture animation. The medieval tale was adapted for the screen by Neil Gaiman and Roger Avery, and no doubt it bears little resemblance to the text you studied in high school. So the story goes, King Hrothgar (Anthony Hopkins) and his people are being terrorized by the horrific monster Grendel (Crispin Glover). Hrothgar puts out a call to any brave man who can come and slay the monster. Enter Beowulf (Ray Winstone) and his brave band of soldiers. Beowulf is a mighty warrior, and he quickly dispatches Grendel, but in doing so he enrages Grendel's mother--played here by an extremely sexy and serpentine Angelina Jolie. Beowulf journeys out to lay waste to Grendel's mother as well, but soon finds his resolve tested by great temptation. His choice ultimately brings about a new curse--one far worse than Grendel--and he must live with regret, until the day finally comes when he is given a chance for redemption. Zemeckis first utilized performance capture in the magical Christmas story POLAR EXPRESS, but one certainly shouldn't expect any dancing elves in BEOWULF. The film features enough gore and bloodshed to rival a teen slasher film, and in the 3D versions, the viewer is sometimes given the perspective of blood actually raining down upon them. However, if one can stomach the ooze and innards, the 3D effects are truly something to behold, as spears and dragons seem to soar mere inches from your face. No doubt poetry purists will have much to haggle with in this violent, sexed-up version of the tale, but teenage boys everywhere are likely to queue up multiple times--if not to see Grendel, then to eyeball his mother.
| Features | Audio: English, French, Spanish Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround Sound | | Dubbed: French, Spanish | | Featurette: A Hero's Journey - The Making Of Beowulf | | Interactive Menus | | Scene Selection | | Subtitles: English, French, Spanish |
| Technical Info
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Release Information
| | Studio: Paramount |
| Release Date: 8/19/2008 |
| Running Time: 114 minutes |
| Original Release Date: 2007 | | Catalog ID: 473046 | | UPC: 00097363473046 | | Number of Discs: 1 |
Audio & Video
| | Original Language: English | | Available Audio Tracks: English | | Video: Color |
Aspect Ratio | | Widescreen 2.35:1 |
| Cast & Crew | Alan Silvestri - Original Music By | | Alison Lohman - Voice Of | | Angelina Jolie - Voice Of | | Anonymous - Based On Poem By | | Anthony Hopkins - Voice Of | | Brendan Gleeson - Voice Of | | Crispin Glover - Voice Of | | Doug Chiang - Production Designer | | Greg Papalia - Art Director | | Jeremiah O'Driscoll - Editor | | John Malkovich - Voice Of | | Neil Gaiman - Executive Producer | | Neil Gaiman - Screenplay | | Ray Winstone - Voice Of | | Robert Presley - Cinematographer | | Robert Zemeckis - Producer | | Robert Zemeckis - Director | | Robin Wright Penn - Voice Of | | Roger Avary - Screenplay |
| Awards |
MTV Award (2008) | | | Angelina Jolie, Nominee, Best Villain |
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| | Professional Reviews | USA Today
3 stars out of 4 -- "As envisioned by director Robert Zemeckis, BEOWULF is a sight to behold: The landscape and visuals are powerfully sweeping..." 11/16/2007 p.1EEntertainment Weekly
"[A] soulfully spectacular medieval monster movie....Solemnly gorgeous..." -- Grade: B 11/23/2007 p.58 Rolling Stone
3.5 stars out of 4 -- "[A]s humans battle monsters, Zemeckis springs so many pow 3-D surprises you'll think BEOWULF is your own private fun house." 11/29/2007 p.90 Empire
4 stars out of 5 -- "BEOWULF is a massive step forward, with an immersive depth and clarity of vision..." 01/01/2008 p.72 Sight and Sound
"BEOWULF blends pre-modern storytelling and the latest virtual cinema technology....A major progression in the cinema of simulation..." 01/01/2008 p.61 Ultimate DVD
4 stars out of 5 -- "[T]he cast all deliver fine performances, with Ray Winstone perfectly capturing the animalistic, testosterone-drenched Beowulf." 04/01/2008 p.79 ReelViews 8 of 10
Beowulf delivers everything one could reasonably expect from it. It's the kind of film that will appeal immensely to the 300 audience, although it's not as visceral or as grandiose as the earlier production. Spectacle and high-wattage action interweave in the movie's two most impressive fight scenes: Beowulf's battle with Grendel and the soaring, dipping, weaving sequence with the dragon near the end. Zemeckis makes sure the camera takes in everything with a flourish. There are plenty of showy tracking shots and one could argue that the concept of a static camera is unknown to the filmmakers. We don't watch the action from a safe distance; we are put into it...The actors are all well-chosen. Ray Winstone is bombastic enough and, via the magic of animation, he is de-aged and given a physique that Arnold Schwarzenegger would envy. Anthony Hopkins adds a little prestige to the production; it's always nice to have an Oscar winner in the cast. Angelina Jolie gets to shed a few years and grow a tail. Rumor has it that, while she didn't film her scenes in the nude, the animators referred back to some of her earlier efforts in the name of verisimilitude. Robin Wright Penn, Brendan Gleeson, and John Malkovich are on hand in supporting roles. - James Berardinelli
Variety 7 of 10
Further advancing the much-vaunted performance-capture technology he unleashed with "The Polar Express," director Robert Zemeckis delivers a muscular, sometimes stirring but ultimately soulless reinterpretation of "Beowulf." For all its visual sweep and propulsively violent action, this bloodthirsty rendition of the Old English epic can't overcome the disadvantage of being enacted by digital waxworks rather than flesh-and-blood Danes and demons...Compensating somewhat for the mostly torch-lit interiors, Zemeckis and cinematographer Robert Presley (who also shot "Polar Express") orchestrate visual flourishes -- majestic crane shots of the frozen Nordic landscape, fiery-blue strobe effects for Grendel's first attack -- that are especially striking in 3-D. Doug Chiang's production design and Gabriella Pescucci's costumes are scaled appropriately to the primitivism of the setting...Again and again, this "Beowulf" references how its hero's deeds will become the stuff of legend, forever enshrined in bards' songs, in plays and, by extension, in the movies. Too bad Zemeckis, striving for the immortality of myth, is unwilling to simply let his characters be mortal. - Justin Chang
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